Lucius arrives in Rome at his fatherís bidding, accompanied by
the Goths and the imprisoned Aaron. Saturninus, Tamora and
their officials arrive at the banquet prepared by Titus. Just after
the banquet begins Titus kills Lavinia in order to free her from
her sufferings. He then kills Tamora. Saturninus kills Titus and
is in turn killed by Lucius. Marcus and Lucius address the
people of Rome and Lucius relates all the wrongs that had been
done unto his family by Tamora and her sons. They show
Aaronís son, unharmed, and ask the people of Rome for their
verdict on the deaths of Tamora and the Emperor. The people of
Rome proclaim Lucius as their emperor. The Andronici bid a
tearful farewell to the dead Titus. Lucius punishes Aaron by
having him buried breast - deep in earth and starved, he orders
Saturninus to be buried in the latterís fatherís grave, and
declares that Tamora deserves no funeral and orders her body to
be fed to animals. He then declares that henceforth the state will
be protected from the likes of Aaron and the chaos his type
brings.

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Notes

The whole development of the play leads to the final holocaust
that occurs in the end. Titus achieves his revenge: he kills
Tamora. He kills Lavinia too, and at this point Saturninus is
forced to exclaim "unnatural and unkind". But the development
of his character throughout the play, his violence and his
adherence to strict codes of conduct allows the reader to give
credence to his actions.

Once the unleashed destructiveness has exhausted itself and
come to an end Marcus takes charge and restores political order:
Lucius is declared emperor. He passes judgment on Aaron who
goes unrepentant to his death. Tamora is denied a funeral and
her body is consigned to beasts and birds, "let birds on her take
pity". This final reference to pitiless birds is not fortuitous: it is
the last, in the chain of references, to Quidís account of the rape
of Philomel. When Tereus discovers their revenge, the
cannibalistic feast of his son Itys, he flies into a rage and runs
after them with a sword. The tale ends with all three of them
bring metamorphosed into birds. The scene ends with a
conventional couplet on political order that has finally been
restored.